When you walk among the Roussanne vineyards of Chateau de Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Pape, you wonder how vines poking out from such deep layers of galets can even grow. These vines know how to struggle. Our 2007 Saralee's Vineyard Roussanne comes from cuttings of these very same vines, imported into California and propagated into a relatively small number of vineyards through the collaborative efforts of the Perrin Family and Robert Haas during the 1990s. As a late and uneven ripener, the Roussanne at Saralee's Vineyard has its own struggles. Each year, gentle ripening is a race against the first fall rains in the Russian River Valley, but the reward is flavor. Following the traditions of the Rhône, we fermented this wine in individual barrels and aged it sur lies in light French oak for nine months to develop complexity. We assembled the finished wine with 22% Saralee's Vineyard Viognier for its inviting aromatics.

Tasting Notes

First impressions of this fragrant white wine are enticing aromas of apricot with delicate floral notes. These are an entry point to earthier elements of herbal tea and marzipan on the palate with a medium-long, slightly mineral finish. This wine teases your senses by juxtaposing good acidity with a supple, glycerin mouthfeel. Representative food pairings are dishes containing aromatic mushrooms, succulent roasted poultry, or shellfish in cream. In winter, a simple plate of fresh oysters from the nearby Tomales Bay is nice.

The Vinification

Our 2007 Saralee's Vineyard Roussanne is composed of 78% Roussanne and 22% Viognier harvested by hand between October 6 and October 15, 2007. After sorting and pressing the whole clusters, we let the juice settle for two days, then racked the clarified juice into individual barrels. We fermented each barrel with D47 yeast, an isolate from the Rhône well suited to white wines of this type. The fermentations completed over the course of three weeks. Next, we carried out a partial malolactic fermentation, which served to lower the overall acidity and create a rounder mouthfeel. This was followed by a period of élevage sur lies for nine months in 15% new French oak. Sur lies ageing rounds mouthfeel further and allows additional complexity to develop. We determined the final assembly by conducting blending trials to assess the proportions of Roussanne and Viognier that would produce the most expressive wine. Because we completed only a partial malolactic fermentation, we filtered the wine before bottling to ensure stability throughout its evolution. The wine was not fined or cold stabilized. As such, it may throw a modest sediment.

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